Should I defoliate more?

[DrPhoton]

Here is my research on the topic of defoliation.

[Chefbjy]

Weed Pharma I didn't lollipop either per say but I did cut away a lot to produce one with around 30 tops one with around 20 and another with 15. My canopy is pretty large on 2 plants and they cover almost half my grow tent. Also like to imply that defoliating in my current grow environment has to have a lot of effect on humidity and would be harder to control with more vegetation. I was thinking of cutting more off in week 3 but I don't think it will help or increase yields by any means so I've decided against it. I have 8-9 week strains so I have a ways to go and going to get a better camera so my pics will be clearer like yours are. I'm going to be posting to try a journal of sorts I guess. I don't know if I made it properly and maybe not the best well written journal out there but I started it here https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...-she-s-a-beast

[Dutchman1]

Thanks for that Danger.

[DrPhoton]

@chefbjy

Everything that removes material from a plant is a form of pruning, which is to control the shape, structure and function of a plant and improve its overall health, performance or appearance.

Here are some popular methods of pruning.

Defoliating is the action of removing leaves for agriculture or military tactic purposes. The practice of defoliating in agriculture is not a practice used for improving fruit yield, but for other practical purposes such as harvesting efficiency, forced dormancy, disease control etc.

Shaping or controlling a plants structure through apical manipulation has a few names, usually defined by the type of manipulation. For cannabis we typically just call it topping. By manipulating where a plants apical dominance is directed. A grower can change the natural structure of a plant to something more preferred by the grower.

Fruit, flower or branch thinning is a process of removing plant material to make way for other growth. This is very important for example in orchards where the developement of fruit is of priority. Thinning either from branch, flower or fruit thinning. Can help to promote healthier, larger or tastier fruit.

[KingKush]

Way to make one word "here" turn into one of the deeper rabbit holes on GWE DangerDan! That's some intense, mind-melting stuff. Compliments to defining terms clearly such as pruning vs leafing.

So...I'm one of those who said they would do a defoliation experiment. I tried to keep it as objective and unbiased as I could. Overall I would rate the experiment as a complete success, it indeed showed a clear difference between defoliating and not. I pruned and trained them all the same up until flipping the lights and then I chose to leave one plant from each strain untouched for the remainder of the grow (still bent and spread physically to control shape). I was lured into thinking that defoliation increases yields and I wanted to give "shwazzing" a try - defoliate HEAVY in week 1 and 3 of Bloom. My pictures kinda suck and I don't have any quantifiable evidence such as total yield amounts.

My conclusions mirror yours. Enjoyable reads, thanks!

[DrPhoton]

Thats good stuff guys, thanks for your efforts.

[DrPhoton]

Yes, i have been focusing on the biggest questions relating to growing and lighting. This forum has allowed me to understand what those are and to investigate. So the people here really give me the content to work off. The defoliate article has mostly been done with my posts from that thread, it just needs to be consolidated, revised and restructured for easier readability.

[Chefbjy]

Great stuff. Thank you Dangerdan

[D.A.A.S.69]

Yes, thank you DangerousDan, for all the work you contribute, very helpful. Lol.